Damaging Winds Sweep Across SoCal

Christmas morning brought gifts under the tree, power outages and scattered branches and debris for some Southern Californians after a night of powerful winds that included gusts of more than 70 mph.

Wind speeds decreased late Thursday morning during a cool Christmas Day with temperatures in the 60s for much of the region and a long list of repairs for utility crews because of downed power lines and poles.

The LADWP showed hundreds of customers without power in various locations around Los Angeles, including Hollywood, Hyde Park, Tarzana, North Hills, Echo Park, Chinatown, Cheviot Hills, Century City, Beverlywood, and near the intersection of Adams and Normandie, according to its website. The agency estimates electricity will be restored by 2:30 p.m.

At 10:30 a.m., LADWP reported that 6,700 customers were without power in West Los Angeles, Westwood, Van Nuys and nearby areas. By about 5:30 p.m., that figure was down to 500.

Southern California Edison reported 2,782 customers in West Hollywood were without power early Thursday. Outages also were reported in Park-Windsor Hills and Inglewood.

In Irvine, nearly 5,600 Edison customers were without power. Electricity was restored to all but 110 of them by 5:30 p.m., according to the utility.

Southwest of downtown Los Angeles, a toppled tree brought down power lines after it was uprooted. The tree and pole landed on a sport utility vehicle and blocked the street through mid-day.

Details regarding when the tree will be removed were not immediately available.

Sustained winds of about 20 mph were reported throughout the LA basin. The strongest winds, including gusts that reached 75 mph, occurred in the desert and mountains north of Los Angeles.

Gusts between 30 and 50 mph were recorded along the coast and valleys.

A high wind warning remained in effect Thursday morning for Los Angeles, Ventura counties. Winter weather advisories were in effect for mountain communities.

In Rancho Park, a Westside neighborhood, an uprooted tree fell onto a house's roof and the wall around the residential property. No injuries were reported.

In the Mid-City area, a palm tree was blown into contact with a power line, starting the tree on fire. Winds sent embers into the neighborhood for about 20 minutes before firefighters put out the fire.